BEAVERCREEK — A wild scramble in front of the Bellbrook net led to the moment Beavercreek nearly had achieved several times.
Tyler Araujo scored the go-ahead goal with 3:40 remaining to give the Beavers a 2-1 win over the Golden Eagles in a non-league match on Tuesday in Beavercreek.
Araujo knocked down a bouncing ball that slipped through several defenders and snapped a shot on goal which caught the opposing keeper off guard to break open a tie.
“Some of that is anticipation and then some of that is drive,” Beavercreek head coach Jason Guiliano said of the winning goal. “Wanting to be first to the ball and being proactive instead of reactive.”
The goal culminated an exciting second half which saw both sides nearly score two or three times as they traded chances to break the tie.
Beavercreek initially got the lead in the first half when Ryan McClure sent a ball midway into the center of the box where it was contested by several players on both sides. Nate Borowski got up just enough over the reach of Bellbrook goalkeeper Grant Driskell to head one home.
Bellbrook opened the second half with similar pressure it had in the first and got an equalizer when Brooks Judd deflected a ball past Beavercreek keeper Cole Roberts less than 90 seconds after the break.
Judd minutes later had another chance into the box, but had the ball tackled away.
“Obviously it brought a lot of momentum and I feel like our team did a good job of getting immediate chances off of that,” Bellbrook head coach Michael Crane said.
Beavercreek created the first great chance to go back in front with roughly 23 minutes remaining in the match. Araujo sent a pass to the center of the net and straight to an open Max Albrecht, but he was unable to make contact just outside of the six-yard box.
Bellbrook got a similar chance seven minutes later when Riley Ferrin shot in a low cross from the right sideline that made it toward the opposite corner of the net but inches beyond the reach of the feet first dive by Judd.
Both teams had several other chances leading to Araujo’s winner.
Bellbrook has suffered back-to-back 2-1 defeats to open its season, but Crane said he liked the response from team preparing for Tuesday’s match.
“We had a willingness to compete,” Crane said. “It’s one thing for a young group to step onto the field and play. It’s another to believe that they can win and there’s a building sense of belief starting to come we can compete with the Beavercreek’s and bigger schools in our area.”
Beavercreek is now 2-0-1 in what Guiliano described as early out of league tests for his team to open the season. All part of the plan leading into GWOC play to face good competition.
“It’s good for our guys to be put in these pressure situations where they have to continue to grind and execute in order to get a result,” he said.
